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Ozone is like the sun. Without ozone you would die. Yet too much can affect your health. So when air purifier companies try to sell you that ozone air purifiers are death machines or healthy air miracles the truth is somewhere in the middle.

How The Controversy Started

A year ago Consumer Reports claimed the Sharper Images Ionic Breeze air purifier emitted 150 to 300 parts per billion of ozone in samples taken 2 inches from the machine. This report led to the highly successful Ionic Breeze infomercials being pulled from TV. The Breeze image ionic Sharper Brand died, replaced by the Oreck air purifiers with overpriced infomercial units.

( Sharper Images Breeze Ionic Midi, breeze ionic plus professional, and breeze ionic quadra review models no longer have an Ozone problem. )

Lets look at both the good and the bad about Ozone in Air Purifiers:

Ozone is Good

You would die if there was no ozone.
Ozone is simply oxygen with an added molecule.
It is natures own air cleaner.
Ozone is produced by nature and cleans the air.
At low levels, as found in nature, it does a superb job of cleaning the air.
Some purifiers allow for on/off Ozone, allowing you to treat the room
All electric motors, and computers, produce Ozone

and Ozone is Bad

The EPA standard for ozone exposure is 80 parts per billion over 8 hours.
Ozone levels over 100 parts per billion can causes injury to the airways
High Ozone warnings signal that the air is bad.
High levels can irritate lung tissue
Even air purifiers that claim no ozone produce ozone if they have a fan.

Conclusion: When used properly ozone is very helpful at treating odor, mildew and mold. In 1985, even though I was an asthmatic, I used an ozone purifier. It helped my sleep by treating a mold and mildew problem in my bedroom.

For Asthmatics: Many people with asthma or lung problems consider avoiding ozone. If you like ozone for ocassional rom treatment (as I do) find a unit with low levels, timed, and dont sleep too close to it. You may also want to treat the room and leave the room empty for 3-6 hours. The ozone will fade in that time.

So Do You Want It In Your Purifier?

My advice is to find a unit that offers optional, timed ozone when you need or want it.

I now own an air purifier with optional on/off ozone that has a 2 hour ozone timer. I use it maybe 1 or 2 days a week when any room in my house gets musty smelling, and in the bathroom when it smells moldy, or mildewy . It freshens the room better than anything.

I hope I have cleared the air on the great ozone conspiracy.

Mark Richardson is a Los Angeles based Health Practitioner and Author. He has been interviewed on over 300 radio and TV stations across the U.S. on how he cured his allergies and asthma by changing 3 things in his external and internal environment. He is a contributing editor to http://www.The-Air-Purifier-Guide.com which offers help to consumers in understanding air purifiers. To compare and find purifiers at wholsesale prices try http://www.airpodcleaner.com you can email Mark at healthideal@hotmail.com

Such liberalisation comes the risk of these new entrants conducting less than ethical business practises that were impossible for a state controlled monopoly; and so with liberalisation comes a new wave of regulation.

A fact of the telecom's industry is that all new entrants have had to resell all or part of the incumbent monopolys infrastructure. However, by using the internet and the unbundled local broadband loop, voip is a technology that will allow a new breed of telecom operator that has no recall to the incumbent monopoly other than to interconnect with it to pass traffic between each other.

voip, therefore has attracted the attention of regulators, and from a european-wide perspective, the issue is that this attention varies from country to country. Each national Regulatory Authority has a different view. According to a recent survey conducted by networking technology company Spirent communications, the international engineering Consortium and Total telecom magazine, twenty per cent of european telecoms executives said that government regulation is the biggest threat to voip, meanwhile 84 per cent believe the technology is ready for widespread deployment.

According to a Gartner report in January 2006, no common approach has so far been adopted among national Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) for the delivery of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) across europe. In some countries, the service is treated as being equivalent to a regular circuit-switched telephone connection, while in others, it is considered more as a data service. Until a common approach is implemented, voip service providers will be unable to deliver common service platforms across multiple countries, removing one of the key opportunities enabled by the underlying technology that of cross-national competition.

The survey found that NRAs have resisted developing specific policies or regulations concerning voip. While no one has an appetite to aggressively regulate this technology, changes will need to happen to accommodate the rapid move in consumer and business use patterns. Gartner believes that with voip and other IP-enabled or electronic communications service (ECS) maturing, end users are often unaware that protection and statutory rights are not the same with voip services as for switched voice.

Therefore, Gartner concludes, voip will force broad regulatory changes, because voice telephony is being redefined. IP not only affects the pricing of voice services, but also changes the way voice services and features are ordered, provisioned, delivered, marketed and regulated. As a result, the inevitable regulatory changes will add cost to the provisioning of IP-enabled services, thus closing the end-user price advantage currently enjoyed by voip services.

As regards the UK market specifically, under the communications Act of 2003 Ofcoms primary regulatory control on the voip market is to police a code of conduct for providers of a pubic telephony service over whatever technology to consumers and small business. (As for big business, caveat emptor.) This code of practise deals with the business process as opposed to the underlying technology and, as far as the consumer is concerned, is all that is required.

To quote from Clause 52 of The Act itself:

(2) Those matters are-
(a) the handling of complaints made to public communications providers by any of their domestic and small business customers;
(b) the resolution of disputes between such providers and any of their domestic and small business customers;
(c) the provision of remedies and redress in respect of matters that form the subject-matter of such complaints or disputes;
(d) the information about service standards and about the rights of domestic and small business customers that is to be made available to those customers by public communications providers;
(e) any other matter appearing to OFCOM to be necessary for securing effective protection for the domestic and small business customers of such providers.

VegaStreams position regarding regulating the voip industry is similar to that of OfComs. The application is straightforward the ability to enable people to talk to each other over a telecommunications network. With VegaStream gateways this network can contain both IP and TDM elements and that fact is completely transparent to the end. Regulators should therefore continue to refine their ability to protect the consumer against bad business practise and ensure that the innovators within the voip industry can bring the full benefits of this technology to business and consumers alike.

Formed in 1998, VegaStream is one of the most experienced players in the industrial voip market. The company supplies gateway CPE to both traditional telecommunications carriers and the new generation of internet telephony service providers. VegaStream also serves the enterprise market through a global network of distributors and resellers supported by regional offices in the UK, usa and australia. VegaStream is a non-listed UK company. Investors include the management team, Pace micro technology PLC and MTI Partners. http://www.vegastream.com

The cost of gastric bypass surgery and other bariatric surgical procedures are high averaging between $20,000 and $35,000. Many insurance companies are beginning to see obesity as a serious health disorder, however, and have begun to cover some of the cost of gastric bypass surgery.

Insurance companies will only cover the cost of gastric bypass surgery if the candidate is qualified. A qualified candidate is firstly at least 100 pounds overweight and has demonstrated in the past a serious effort to control their weight through lifestyle changes like diet and exercise. Candidates must have been obese for at least 5 years prior to the surgery, not have a history of alcohol abuse, and not have depression or other serious psychiatric disorders.

After surgery, there are other things to consider when factoring in the cost of gastric bypass surgery. A new lifestyle commitment will include a membership to the gym, a healthy choice diet, a wardrobe that may have to be replaced on a continual basis for a year, even transportation and furniture.

Beyond the material cost, there is also a physical and emotional cost. Gastric bypass surgery permanently changes your digestive system making it impossible to eat certain foods or combinations of foods. You will also have to make a commitment to exercise regularly and avoid high-sugar and high-fat foods that may hurt your system. Emotionally, an adjustment will have to be made as you adapt to your new lifestyle and continually changing body. People important to you may also treat you differently after weight loss, which can cause stress and conflict. Any surgery is serious and a surgery to promote weight loss should only be undertaken when all other avenues have been explored.

Gastric Bypass Surgery Info provides comprehensive information on procedure, recovery, cost and complications relating to standard, laparoscopic and mini surgeries. Gastric Bypass Surgery Info is the sister site of Bariatric Surgery Web.

Snowboarding is a great way to get the benefits of exercise and enjoy the great outdoors in the winter months. Whether you are an experienced or a first time snowboarder it is important to consider several factors when planning your next trip. Using proper equipment, safety practices and general common sense will ensure a trouble-free outing. Below are some snowboarding tips to make sure you get the most out of your day:

* Check the weather before starting out. Make sure that the conditions are favourable for the day or plan to be back down to the bottom of the slopes prior to the expected beginning of bad weather.

* Wear the proper clothing. As there is a lot of movement needed to snowboard, it is important to wear loose fitting clothes. Dressing in layers with an outer layer of water resistant lightweight fabric will help keep you dry and warm the whole day.

* Make sure the board you are using is the correct size and that it is in good condition. The edges of the board should be sharp especially on hard or packed snow conditions. If the edges are not sharp, you will not have control over the board leading to safety issues for both yourself and other snowboarders.

* Know your limits. Dont try to snowboard in areas that are too difficult for your level of experiences. Likewise, dont snowboard faster than you feel comfortable going.

* Learn how to fall. Make sure your fingers are curled under and your arms are bent when falling. Try to land with your weight on your fore arms, not on your fingers, wrists or hands to prevent breaks.

* Make sure that you are well rested and have no physical injuries prior to snowboarding. When you notice that your legs are starting to tire stop and rest. Over exerting your muscles will only lead to injury.

* Wear safety equipment such as helmets, elbow and kneepads, and protective gear for those falls that may lead to tailbone injury.

* Make sure all gear is in good condition and fits correctly.

These snowboarding tips are designed to help you plan for your snowboarding outing. Safety and protection is key for enjoying your day and for getting the most out of your snowboarding experience.

On http://www.winter-sportz.com/ you will find ski or snowboard clothing and canada ski vacations.